This invention relates to a method for treatment of epilepsy of any type and cerebral concussion in mammals by administration of a vasodilator chosen from the group consisting of bamethan, derivatives thereof, bamethan sulfate, derivatives thereof, 1-epinephrine derivatives having a terminal alkyl substitutent attached to nitrogen and containing at least three carbon atoms, and mixtures thereof. More specifically, the method of the present invention has been found to have great utility in decreasing the frequency of epileptic seizures in mammalian patients afflicted with epilepsy of vascular origin.
The most prevalent form of epilepsy of vascular origin is Uncus sclerosis, or a type of temporal lobe epilepsy. It has been hypothesized that compression of the branches of the anterior choroid artery against the free edge of the tentorium cerebelli at birth is responsible for lesions which are the cause of a type of temporal epilepsy. Applicant conceived a treatment based on the assumption that a vasodilator might improve the nutrition and oxygenization of the lesion which causes such epileptic seizures. However, tests by applicant with several well known vasodilators, under control of an electroencephalogram, were found to have no effect. More specifically, known vasodilators which proved to be ineffective were papaverine, theophylline, niacin (nicotinic acid), and complamin.
In contrast, tests by applicant with bamethan sulfate were found to have a surprising and significant effect in decreasing the frequency of epileptic seizures.
Conventional antiepileptic drugs include phenobarbital, hydantoin derivatives, primidone and tridione.